‘Correct the Map’ and better reflect Africa’s true size
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly backed an Africa-led initiative calling for more accurate and equitable representations of the world on maps, in a landmark vote aimed particularly at correcting the way Africa’s size is portrayed.
The resolution, A/80/L.104, “Correct the Map: Rebalancing Global Cartographic Representation and Promoting Equitable Representation of the World’s Regions, Particularly Africa,” was adopted on Friday by 164 votes to one, with six abstentions. The United States was the only country to vote against the measure.
The initiative was presented by Togo on behalf of the African Group and has been backed by the African Union. Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey has argued that the way the world is depicted on maps is not merely a technical issue, but also affects how people perceive the relative size and importance of different regions.
At the centre of the campaign is the Mercator projection, developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in the 16th century. While the projection remains useful for navigation, it significantly exaggerates the apparent size of territories as they approach the poles.
That distortion is particularly striking in comparisons between Africa and Greenland. Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland in area, yet on a Mercator world map the two can appear surprisingly similar in size.
The resolution encourages governments, international organisations and educational institutions to consider equal-area map projections, which preserve the relative surface areas of continents more accurately. One projection associated with the campaign is Equal Earth.
The vote does not, however, amount to a worldwide legal ban on Mercator maps. The resolution is non-binding and does not require countries, schools, media organisations or private companies to immediately abandon the projection. Instead, it seeks to encourage a gradual shift towards representations that provide a fairer comparison of the world’s regions.
For African leaders and supporters of the campaign, the significance extends beyond cartography.
The African Union described the vote as a historic step towards ensuring that maps used in classrooms, media and international institutions better reflect Africa’s actual geographic scale and place in the world.
“Correcting the map,” proponents argue, is ultimately about correcting a longstanding visual distortion — and challenging the way that distortion has shaped perceptions of Africa for generations.
The resolution now places the question of how the world is visually represented firmly on the international agenda, with 164 countries voting in favour of a map that more accurately reflects the relative size of the continents.